Water pumped out from affected areas in outer Delhi's Bawana, repair work on: Residents

New Dellhi: Water has been pumped out from the affected areas of Bawana in outer Delhi and officials are on-site to monitor the repair work on the Munak canal, local residents said on Friday.

A breach in one of the sub-branches of the Munak Canal, which supplies water from Haryana to Delhi, was reported late Wednesday night, leading to knee-deep waterlogging in several parts of the Bawana area. This also affected the water supply in different parts of the city. "Water has been pumped out from the colonies and repair work is currently underway, with officers on-site monitoring the situation," Gopal Kumar, a local resident, said.

The embankment of Munak canal's sub-branch (career line channel, CLC) breached between 12 midnight and 2 am on Thursday. This caused water from the Munak canal to enter many areas of Bawana, water minister Atishi said in a digital briefing from the spot on Thursday.

Due to the breach, the water treatment plants in Dwarka, Hyderpur, Bawana and Nangloi were affected, the minister said. The water production from Bawana, Nangloi and Hyderpur treatment plants will normalise by Thursday evening but the Dwarka plant that completely depends on CLC for water supply will remain affected till Friday evening, she added.

"The repair work has started on a war footing to plug the breach. We are in regular touch with Haryana department. After the breach was reported in the CLC embankment, water released into it from Kakroi head was diverted to another sub-branch of the Munak canal," Atishi said.

She said that mobile pumps by different agencies, including MCD, PWD and DDA, were deployed to drain out the water from the inundated areas.

Taking cognizance of the situation, Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on Thursday advised the chief secretary to take up the matter with Delhi ministers to ensure that the channel is restored at the earliest.

According to an official statement from the Raj Niwas, he instructed that teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) be immediately asked to evacuate the affected people from the area.

The LG said that the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) should be asked to provide adequate arrangements for relief and rehabilitation measures and make available basic minimum services including shelter, it said.

Saxena also directed to ask the Health Department to ensure that medical teams are in place to address any exigencies and medical emergency, the statement added.